Environental Chemistry ConceptsALEXIA LUNA

ENERGY

a.)Temperature vs Heat: We often think that heat and temperature are the same thing. However this is not the case. Heat and Temperature are related to each other but are different concepts. Heat is the total energy of molecular motion in a substance while temperature is a measure of the average energy of molecular motion in a substance.

Heat VS. Temperature

b.) Laws of thermodynamics:

* The First Law often known as Law of conservation of Energy states that energy cannot be created or destroyed in an isolated system.

* The second law of thermodynamics states that any isolated system always increases.

* The Third law of thermodynamics regards the properties of systems in equilibrium at absolute zero temperature.

c.) Calories and specific heat:

* Another common energy unit is the calorie , which is defined as the amount of energy (heat) needed to increase the temperature of one gram of water.

Specific heat: is the amount of heat per unit mass required to raise the temperature by one degree Celsius. The relationship between heat and temperature does not apply if a phase change is encountered, because the heat added or removed during a phased change does not change the temperature.

RECYCLING

a.) Up-cycling vs. down-cycling:

Up-cycling: Making something more valuable through recycling process.

Down-cycling: Not all products can be made into lower quality equal products when recycled.

b.)Types of plastics and issues:

(PET): Polyethylene Terephthylene

(HDPE): High-Density Polyethylene

(PVC): Polyvinyl Chloride

(LDPE): Low-density polyethylene

(PP): Polyproplyene

(PS): Polysytrene

c.) Recycling metals and papers:

Recycling metals: closed loop recycling

Recycling paper: must be down-cycled all the time

SOIL:

a). Soil profiles:

O-Horizon: "The organic matter"-It is as thick as 0-2 feet and depth of the horizon depends on the amount of vegetation.

A-Horizon: "Top Soil"-biological life is found in this area, at depths of 2-10 feet.

E-Horizon: not all soils contain an E-Horizon. Light and color (no nutrients).

*Positive Ion- Occurs when an atom loses an electron, for example sodium loses one electron to become stable which results in an ion that has a positive charge.

* Negative Ion- Created by an electron chain and it is attracted to the anode they can also be formed when a metal loses electrons. Negatives can bring the particles together and create an ionic compound, such as sodium chloride.

c.) Ionic Compounds: Is a chemical compound comprising ions held by electrostatic forces. They are made up of ions.

* The compound is neutral overall, but consists of positively charged ions called cations and negatively charged ions called anions.